Homer's Narrative: The Iliad

“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”

(Homer, The Iliad)

I’ve always read literary essays and films that allude to stories of Greek gods and goddesses that rave and riot. Poseidon, Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, etc. The work that pushed me off the edge was The Laugh of Medusa by Helene Cixous. Although the work does not explicitly describe the story of Medusa, it was interesting to learn how Athena wreaked havoc on Medusa. Also, I remember how Faustus said “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?” to the apparition of Helen in the play by Marlowe.

The work was an important read, considering it is one of the earliest surviving Western Literature, and has its multiple transformations and interpretations into films, TV series, radio, plays, podcasts, fiction, and poetry. A common point in the epics of the entire world-

1.???? an epic always starts in media res (in the middle of the action)

2.???? Also, the flawed characters (hamartia) add to an ill-fated ending

3.???? The hero or the heroine of an epic holds national, international, or universal importance

4.???? Intervention of Gods and demons (deus ex machina)

5.???? The setting is large, covers many nations

6.???? The action involves great valor

When Apollo comes down the Mount Olympus to destroy Greeks, I was completely engulfed in the story. The book I read is the prose version originally translated by E.V. Rieu. I cannot comment on the poetic sensibility of Homer, so I’ll say something about Homer as a narrator instead. Homer is witty because he does not put ideas into the reader’s mind about who is right and wrong. He does not defend or make allegations. A little sense of the right and the wrong is found in contemplative dialogues between the characters.

T.S. Eliot in “On Translating Homer” argues that Homer is rapid and direct in his expressions. So, the narrator of The Iliad is like a camera which makes us see everything and make our interpretations. The Iliad originally belonged to the oral literature and that’s why there is the repetition of many phrases like “swift-footed Achilles”, “glorious Hector”, etc. ?It seems like Homer was repeating these phrases to arrive where he left telling the story. The whole story of The Iliad covers only fifty-four days of the Siege of Troy which actually is said to have lasted around ten years. ?This magnum opus originally expanded around twenty-four books.

At the end, the epic fails to capture the reason for the Greek’s inability to defeat Troy. The book instead focuses on Achilles. A public humiliation is demeaning for a commoner, so one can think of how Agamemnon’s insults would have affected Achilles. In addition to this, he snatches the prized possession of Achilles named Briseis.

When Achilles is born to Thetis and Peleus, he is a mortal person. She attempts to make baby Achilles immortal by bathing him in River Styx, but she keeps hold of his heel. That’s why “Achilles heel” remained weaker than the rest of his body. Achilles goes beyond humanity to mutilate and drag Hector’s body around town after killing him. Aristotle describes Achilles as ‘a good man but a paradigm of obstinacy’ in his book Poetics. If you’re interested in Achilles’ character you can read more about him from here.

Shame, guilt, pride, heroism, and homecoming are the central themes of the book. I wonder why Homer decided to write at length about Achilles rather than finishing the story. At last, the readers are left wondering about who gained victory in the war. Homer’s description of Achilles’ valor eclipses the plot. ?I wonder if praising the warrior Achilles was the whole point of writing The Iliad in the first place.

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